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Chapter 10

Social Welfare

The Government's mission is to enhance the well-being of every member of the community and to build a caring society, by providing a safety net comprising a wide range of welfare services to help those least able to help themselves. In 2004, major achievements included strengthening support for families in need, transforming all family services centres and counselling units into Integrated Family Service Centres, intensifying support for self-reliance

programmes and establishing the

Partnership Fund for the Disadvantaged.

The Government is advised by the Social Welfare Advisory Committee on social welfare policy, the Rehabilitation Advisory Committee on matters of rehabilitation, the Elderly Commission on services for elders and the Women's Commission on a strategic overview of women's issues. The Health, Welfare and Food Bureau is responsible for formulating welfare policies and overseeing the implementation of these policies executed by the Social Welfare Department (SWD).

In 2004, total expenditure of SWD was $32.4 billion, of which $23.3 billion (71.9 per cent) was for financial assistance payments, $6.6 billion (20.4 per cent) for recurrent subventions to non-governmental organisations, and the remaining $2.5 billion (7.7 per cent) for departmental expenditure, including $0.5 billion for hire of services.

Major Achievements

Strengthening Support for Families in Need

An evaluation of the 15 pilot Integrated Family Service Centre (IFSC) projects carried out from April 2002 to March 2004 found that the new mode of service delivery was effective in terms of service accessibility, ability to reach out to at-risk families, partnership with community organisations and agencies, and users' participation and satisfaction. With these positive findings and the support of the welfare sector, the SWD has transformed all existing family services centres/ counselling units into 61 IFSCs to better meet the changing needs of the community. Some 40 of these are operated by the department with the rest being run by non- governmental organisations (NGOs). There are also two integrated services centres operated by two NGOs in Tung Chung.